The government is set to remove the Moplah Rebellion leaders Variamkunnath Kunhamed Haji, Ali Musaliar and 387 other “Moplah martyrs” from the Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle.

The dictionary is jointly published by the Ministry of Culture and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR).

A three-member panel, set up the ICHR which reviewed the entries in the fifth volume of the dictionary, has reportedly stated that the 1921 rebellion was never part of the independence struggle but a fundamentalist movement focused on religious conversion.

None of the slogans raised by the rioters were in favour of nationalism and anti-British in content, it noted, reports The Hindu.

According to the report, the panel has noted that the rebellion was an attempt to establish a Caliphate.

Had it succeeded, a Caliphate would have been established in the region too and India would have ended up losing that part from its territory, the Hindu quoted sources as saying.

Further, the panel concluded that Haji was a rioter who established a Sharia court and beheaded a large number of Hindus. Those who died at the hands of the rioters were non-believers.

The committee also stated that a large number of alleged “Moplah martyrs,” who were under-trial prisoners, died due to diseases such as cholera and natural causes hence cannot be treated as martyrs.

Only a handful of them were executed by the government after court trial, the panel noted.